Industrial Disasters

An oil spill from a ruptured onshore pipeline that fouled beaches and threatened wildlife along a scenic stretch of the California coast spread across 9 miles of ocean Wednesday and officials said up to 105,000 gallons may have leaked out. Up to a fifth of that amount — 21,000 gallons — reached the sea, according to estimates. Federal regulators were investigating the leak as workers in protective suits raked and shoveled stinky black goo off the beaches, and boats towed booms into place to corral the two slicks off the Santa Barbara coast. The coastline was the scene of a much larger spill in 1969 — the largest in U.S. waters at the time — that is credited with...

Related "Industrial Disasters" Articles

An oil spill from a ruptured onshore pipeline that fouled beaches and threatened wildlife along a scenic stretch of the California coast spread across 9 miles of ocean Wednesday and officials said up to 105,000 gallons may have leaked out.
Up to a...

A committee of lawyers representing businesses and individuals claiming damages from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill announced a $211 million settlement Wednesday with Transocean Ltd., owner of the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
In...

A decade-old oil leak where an offshore platform toppled during a hurricane could continue spilling crude into the Gulf of Mexico for a century or more if left unchecked, according to government estimates obtained by The Associated Press that provide...

When a train hauling volatile crude oil derailed near Galena in March, witnesses said it took about only an hour for tank cars to explode, sending giant fireballs hundreds of feet into the sky.
Authorities said the tank cars survived the derailment...

Part of a New York nuclear power plant remained offline Sunday after a transformer fire created another problem: thousands of gallons of oil leaking into the Hudson River, officials said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said emergency crews were out on the...

A train that derailed and caught fire early Wednesday in rural North Dakota was hauling crude from the state's oil patch, raising questions about whether new state standards intended to reduce the volatility of such shipments are sufficient.
The six tank...

As Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner watches mile-long trains of black tank cars full of crude oil from North Dakota roll through the heart of Illinois' second-biggest city, he wonders what would happen if they would derail, start to burn and even explode.
One...

Five years after the nation's worst offshore oil spill, the industry is working on drilling even further into the risky depths beneath the Gulf of Mexico to tap massive deposits once thought unreachable. Opening this new frontier, miles below the bottom...

More highly volatile crude oil passes through the Midwest, specifically the Chicago area, via railroad tank cars than anywhere else in the country, according to newly released data from the federal government.
The latest information on...

It was a run-of-the-mill complaint — a smell of gas — with a troubling explanation: Someone had improperly tapped into a Manhattan building's gas line, and it was leaking.
The issue was quickly resolved. But seven months later, authorities suspect...

Environmental activists delivered a letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel Wednesday demanding a public report and investigation into at least 1,600 gallons of heavy crude oil spilled into Lake Michigan last year from BP's Whiting refinery.
The volunteer groups...

March 26, 1915
Dead men were placed on the registration books in Terre Haute last October, according to Ira Wellman, Silas R. Brewer and Joseph G. Elder, who testified on Tuesday in the Terre Haute election fraud case. The three men said they had...

Beginning in 2012 and through March of 2015, we have had eight oil tank-car train wreaks, all with spillage. First in Lac-Megantic, Canada, where 47 people burned to death and the town was obliterated. Since then, a second in Alabama, a third in Canada...

The fiery train derailment Thursday near Galena should serve as a wake-up call for the state and the Chicago area to be better prepared in the event of a similar incident in the metropolitan area, officials said.
The BNSF Railway train carrying 103...

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said Thursday's rail tanker derailment near Galena is another episode in a series of accidents involving crude oil tankers that he fears will happen with increasing frequency unless something is done to change federal rules...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says no chemicals have been detected in the air near an oil train that derailed and burst into flames in western Illinois. The agency said Friday that it's conducting air monitoring, taking water samples and...

The two rail cars that split open and burst into flames when an oil train derailed near Galena were retrofitted with protective shields to meet a higher safety standard than federal law requires, the railroad said.
Thursday's accident in a rural area...

Batavia firefighters helped evacuate the lower level of the Batavia Public Library on Tuesday morning after responding to reports of an oil spill, officials said.
Firefighters arrived at the library about 9:35 a.m. to find a small puddle of diesel fuel...

Fire and tornado drills have long been in place in schools throughout the country, but officials are now considering other possible threats — such as an active shooter entering the building.
Barrington District 220 leaders are working with the Barrington...